Decisions and Consequences
by mattiesaurus
Summary: Decision Enma made years before suddenly has consequences. A decision Enma had tried to keep secret from even his Famiglia. Now he has to deal with not just how his decision effects him, but those around him.


"Cozart!"

Enma visibly tensed at the shout bounced through the school halls and the door to their classroom was slammed open. Two well-dressed men stepped into the room and a third hung back in the hall. The smaller of the two men that entered nodded towards Enma and the other made a b-line towards him, grabbing him by the neck and dragging him from his desk. The situation played out to a stunned classroom and even Dino didn't shake off the shock until the men were dragging Enma out the door, speaking to him in enraged Italian.

"Wait!" Dino stepped forwards, although his hand rested on something behind the desk, "What do you think you're doing with my student?"

"'Your student?'" The man turned back to Dino, adjusting his glasses, "I have every right to be taking 'your student,' Bucking Horse."

Dino's eyes narrowed in a glare, "And what right is that?"

Enma's gaze flicked over to where Shitopi was sitting and started shaking his head desperately.

"N-No please don-" His words were cut off by a sharp cry of pain and he clawed helplessly at collar around his neck. The man who had grabbed him before grabbed both Enma's wrists in one hand to stop him.

The man with the glasses made a gesture and Enma was forcefully spun around so his back was to Dino and the back of his shirt was roughly yanked up revealing a large brand scar covering his back. Dino's face darkened, Shitopi clapped her hands over her mouth and only a sharp look from Dino stopped Gokudera from leaping from his chair, though the look of rage on his expression remained. Tsuna glanced at the other three, trying to get some idea of what was going on.

"Do you understand now, Cavallone? He belongs to us. We _own_ him."

"How much?"

"What?"

"To buy him from you. How much?"

"Oh?" The man laughed and his tone changed to a business like one, "You want to buy his freedom? You really are as soft hearted as people say, aren't you Signore Cavallone. Unfortunately I'm not authorized to make that sale, so we'll be taking him back to Italy with us for now. But I'm sure if you want to contact my boss he'd be happy discuss a deal with you." The man turned, grabbing the back of Enma's neck roughly and shoved him out the door ahead of him.

"I've already made arrangements to fly back to Italy tonight."

"Hm… They know why you want to buy him, so they're going to make it as difficult as possible. Are you sure we shouldn't send a third party they aren't familiar with?"

"No. They won't be eager to part with him. They know I won't back down but with anyone else they'll probably think they can get more money from keeping him."

"But they'll stall and try and milk as much profit from him as possible before selling. They'll want to use him up, you could be coming back with an empty shell."

"It's a risk I have to take. If we don't God only knows what will happen to him…"

"Hey. Hey!" Tsuna interrupted Dino and Reborn's conversation, "What's going on? Someone explain what's happening! Who were those people? Why did they take Enma like that? What was the scar on his back?"

"They were from the Bosco Famiglia." Tsuna turned to look at Adelheid who had joined them on the roof. She looked like she had been crying. "They're a mafia family that specializes in human trafficking. Shitopi-chan told us what happened. I can't believe that's how he'd been supporting our famiglia…"

"Human trafficking…?"

"Yeah, you know, selling people into slavery… and prostitution."

"What? You mean he was a slave?"

"No." Gokudera spoke from where he was sitting, "The brand on his back wasn't the one for slaves. They must be prostituting him."

Tsuna pressed his hand over his mouth. The thought made him feel sick to his stomach. "But… He's just a kid."

"That's why he's so valuable to them." Dino pushed himself off from the fence and walked to the door. "Don't worry, I'll bring him back. If I have to exchange every cent I have for him. I promise."

Tsuna didn't hear anything from Dino for about three months, and if Reborn had he wouldn't say. Tsuna was just marking the seventy-eighth day since the incident on the desk, when a crash made him jump and Dino stumbled through the door with all his usual grace.

"Sorry about being away for so long. There were some things back in Italy I had to take care of, but it's all sorted now. Tsunayoshi, please stop defacing school property."

Tsuna jumped, he'd been absent-mindedly drawing the tally mark over and over. Dino stood over him in teacher mode but then he leaned over and lowered his voice.

"Don't worry, Enma's safe. You can come bye after school, if you want to… Honestly I'm not sure you do."

"What do you mean?"

Dino shook his head slightly, "Later."

He stood, turning away from Tsuna and continued teaching the class as normal.

"Dino… Are you going to tell me what you meant before?"

Dino sighed, rubbing his face, and leaned back against the fence, "I was hoping I'd come up with a way to explain this without sounding awful by the time we had a chance to talk."

Tsuna frowned at him, his head tilting in question.

"He's in a really bad state right now, and it's probably partially my fault. Well, it was definitely partly because of me but… If I had pushed I might have been able to get him out of there sooner, but I couldn't risk them deciding to kill him. They wouldn't even talk to me about making a deal until a few days ago. They insisted he serve out his whole punishment for breaking his promise."

Dino glanced over at Tsuna, then shook his head, "I won't go into detail about what I know, but, they must have been keeping him pretty heavily drugged. He had more heroin built up in his system then most drug addicts would. By the time we got back yesterday his withdrawal symptoms had gotten really bad. Between that and everything, if we'd left him as he was I think just the pain probably could have killed him. I'm not a doctor, but Romario said it would probably be best to put him in an induced coma."

Dino folded his hands behind his head tugging it down towards his knees. "You guys are my little brothers. If that was what Romario thought was best to help him, I can only trust his judgment but… The way he looks now, if I didn't know better I'd think he was a corpse. Even though he should recover physically, after seeing his state after whatever their 'punishment' was I don't know how well his psyche will recover. I'm sorry. I wanted to get him out of there in a way I knew they wouldn't touch him again but… I think I might have screwed this up."

Tsuna stared at the ground for a while, drinking in what Dino said, "Is he really that bad?"

"I won't be able to tell you for sure until he wakes up. That should be two or three days. And… It might be better if you wait until them to see him. Seeing your friend as he is now."

Tsuna shook his head, "No. I'll go now."

Dino glanced over at Tsuna and smiled at the look on his face. He'd have to make sure to let Nana know Tsuna would probably be staying at his place for a while.

Even with what Dino had told him, his mental preparation didn't quite help when he walked into Enma's room. The redhead had always been pale and underweight, but even with the blanket pulled up to his shoulders, it was clear he'd lost an extreme amount of weight in the time he'd been gone. With how little colour was in his cheeks and the dark circles under his eyes he almost looked skeletal. Tsuna hesitated a moment with his hand hovering over Enma's forehead before gently brushing his hair off his face. He stared at his hand a little when he pulled it away.

"He's burning up."

Dino reached past Tsuna and pressed the back of his hand against Enma's cheek and a frown creased his face, "His fever's gotten worse since I check on him this morning."

"He will be alright, right?" Tsuna glanced back at Dino, who was leaving the room, and tugged the blanket up to cover Enma a little better.

"I'll do everything in my power to make sure he is," Dino came back from the other room with a dampened washcloth and pressed it to Enma's forehead. He gave a side-long glance at Tsuna, who was too focused on Enma's face to notice the look, and smiled a little, "And I'm sure having you here will help. I still have some things I need to sort out, are you okay looking after him?"

Tsuna gave a short nod, "Yeah. How long can I stay?"

Dino smiled, "Until he wakes up if you want to."

"Shouldn't he be awake by now?"

"It's only been a few hours, Tsuna. It could be another day or more before he comes out of it, especially with his condition."

Tsuna wrapped his hands around Enma's and squeezed it. He hated playing this waiting game. Enma had been given the medication to reverse the induced comma, it had been three hours and his condition had yet to change. Tsuna sighed and absent-mindedly stroked the palm of Enma's hand with his thumb. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against Enma's.

"Hey… wake up before I go crazy waiting, okay?" Tsuna stayed in that position for a while with his eyes closed. He finally started to sit up but he hesitated a moment before making a split second decision before leaning back over and lightly kissed Enma's forehead.

Enma's eyebrows knitted together slightly, reacting to the soft touch in a small sign of regaining consciousness. Tsuna held his breath and waited, but Enma didn't open his eyes at all and he let out a disappointed sigh.

"Fine." He reached over and rested his hand on Enma's cheek, his thumb tracing the obvious outline of his cheekbone, "You can sleep for a while longer. Now that I know you're here, at least."

It was another three hours before Enma started to wake up again. The bright light from the window above his head made his eyes hurt and for a moment he considered just closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

"Enma?"

The voice next to him made Enma turn his head a little and rubbed at his eyes trying to clear his vision a little. He opened his mouth to speak but his mouth and throat were too dry.

"Ah! Here." Tsuna slipped his hand under Enma's head and lifted him up a little, and held a cup of to his lips.

Enma reached up to take the cup from Tsuna, but he kept his fingertips on it to keep it steady in Enma's shaky grip. A little bit of the water spilled down Enma's chin and Tsuna smiled as Enma tried to wipe it away before he thought Tsuna would notice. Enma moved the cup away from his mouth and Tsuna gently lowered his head back down.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. How are you feeling?"

"Terrible…" Enma gave Tsuna a small smile, but the emotionally dead look in his eyes didn't change. "Why you here?"

Tsuna frowned and a slight look of confusion crossing his face. "I was worried about you."

"Worried?"

"Are you stupid? Yes, worried."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?' You're my friend. You're my _best_ friend. Of course I'd be worried when you're sick and hurt."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Enma gave another dead smile, "I still have a hard time believing that someone outside my famiglia could genuinely care about me."

"Enma… You have a lot of people who care about you. Do you think Dino would have done everything he did if he didn't care? Even Reborn was concerned. I was scared for you every day you were gone and honestly, even more so when I saw how sick you were when you were brought back. I care about you, Enma. I care about you a lot."

Enma glanced down at their hands. Tsuna hadn't even noticed that he'd grabbed Enma's hand and he blushed and quickly pulled his hand away muttering an apology. A small flicker of light came into Enma's eyes when he smiled that time, and he even breathed a soft laugh. He reached over and took Tsuna's hand back.

"I'm glad you care."

Tsuna's face flushed bright pink and he tried to pull his hand from Enma's, but Enma just tightened his grip a little. Enma fell silent and his eyes were closed, but he still wouldn't release Tsuna's hand.

"Enma? Enma, are you asleep again?"

Enma didn't respond and Tsuna had his answer. He smiled at the more relaxed look the redhead had on his face now. Tsuna watched him for a moment and then leaned over, brushing his lips over Enma's.

"Sleep well."

Tsuna had had to stay late after school to make up a test he had missed while staying with Enma. When he got to Dino's house Julie was sitting on the floor outside of Enma's door.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you." He patted the floor next to him, inviting Tsuna to sit down.

"Hunh? Why?"

"I've never Adel this pissed. If you go in there now you might get caught in the crossfire."

Tsuna made a slightly frightened noise. He sat down next to Julie but cracked the door open so he could listen in incase the argument escalated. He'd rather have Adelheid yell at him right now than Enma.

"You went to the _voluntarily?_ How could you even think of doing something so incredibly dangerous?"

"I just did what I had to." Adelheid was yelling, but Enma's voice stayed quiet and calm.

"What you had to do? Had to do for what? What could possibly justify making such a stupid decision?"

"I had to make sure you and everyone else had enough money to live."

"So we could live? How long have you even been doing this?"

Enma was silent for a moment, "Since we all ended up together."

"Since we all… Since you were _nine?_"

"Eight."

Adelheid sputtered and tried to find words for a moment, "That long? And you never once in that amount of time thought you should tell us that _that_ was how you were supporting our famiglia?"

"This is exactly I didn't tell you."

"What?"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you would react like this!" The tone of Enma's voice finally started to change, "But I made my choice and I don't regret it. If I had to I'd make the same decision again, without hesitation. You're angry and disgusted, don't try and deny it I can see it on your face."

"Of course I'm disgusted! How could you let people do the things involved with that to you? Don't you have any pride as a boss all?

"I know you guys always thought I was a terrible boss, but I did my best with the options I had. You guys were always my first priority. If you're going to criticize my decisions then leave!"

Adelheid must have started to say something else but Enma cut her off, finally yelling himself, "I said leave!"

Adelheid spun on her heel and stormed out. Julie gave Tsuna a look and stood up to follow her and try and calm her down.

"Wish me luck."

Tsuna closed the door behind him when he entered the room. Enma had pressed himself close to the wall; his whole body was visibly trembling. Tsuna sat down on the bed next to him. He wasn't sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all. But then Enma spoke first.

"Were you listening to that?"

"… Yeah."

"It's not like I enjoyed having to do that. It's not like I don't hate myself enough already… But I did what I had to. For them! What right does she have to criticize me?" His voice was still tight and angry. "What would you have done in that situation?"

Tsuna looked down at the ground for a moment, "I… I really don't know. A decision like that seems impossible to me."

When he looked up again he noticed that Enma's shoulders were shaking more then they had been. He was crying.

"It hurt. Everything I had to do hurt. But I hung on… Because I thought I was doing the right thing for them. So why does she hate me for it?" He looked over at Tsuna and there were tears streaming down his face.

Without thinking Tsuna reached over pulled Enma away from the wall and held him close. He stroked his hair, trying to comfort him.

"It's okay, Enma. She doesn't hate you. I'm sure she's just confused and scared because of how she found out. It'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

Enma wrapped his arms around Tsuna and gripped the back of his shirt. He pressed his face against Tsuna's shoulder as his body shook with increasing sobs. He finally just let out a scream that encompassed all the emotions that he had experienced for the last three months. His sobs became more like screams and Tsuna's hold on Enma tightened until he was worried he would break his skinny body.

He pressed his face against Enma's hair, and they stayed like that for a long time as Enma cried. Tsuna knew he couldn't say anything that would make the situation better. As Enma's sobs finally started softening again Tsuna kissed the top of his head lightly. Tsuna's stomach did a slight flip and heat started rising in his cheeks as his sudden action registered in his mind, but Enma just squeezed him a little tighter.

"Don't leave."

Tsuna's eyebrows knit together, "Why would I leave?"

"I don't know. But just… Don't."

"I won't. I promise I won't. I'll stay with you forever if you want me to."


End file.
